Syracuse city panel OKs new South Campus student housing complex

The Syracuse city planning commission tonight unanimously approved a developer's application to build a 120-unit student housing complex on Syracuse University's South Campus.

The two- and four-bedroom apartments will be spread among five three-story buildings along East Colvin Street near Slocum Drive. A one-story clubhouse with a small movie theater, fitness center and conference rooms will serve as many as 432 residents.

The project has caused controversy among university-area residents. Many who live close to South Campus oppose the $25 million complex.

Developer Allen & OHara Development Co., a subsidiary of Education Realty Trust, will finance, build and operate the complex and agree to a 40-year lease on the 6.4-acre SU parcel, said Rhonda K. Johannesen, vice president of development for the company based in Memphis, Tenn.

Before the vote, Johannesen and Syracuse architect Bruce King, of Holmes, King, Kallquist & Associates, offered a presentation on the project. They said they had responded to the concerns of neighborhood residents by adding more vegetation and an 8-foot fence to the boundary of the project that abuts homes on Westmoreland Avenue. They also made adjustments to the look of the buildings and the roof lines to fit better in the neighborhood, they said.

Residents of the streets around that section of Colvin Street attended community meetings and voiced concerns about increased traffic, parking and drainage problems and the loss of green space.

Two Westmoreland Avenue residents spoke in opposition to the project after the presentation.

"Its going to look enormous from the road," said Marilyn May, of No. 1608. "Its right behind us. We'll have to look at 300 cars ... It's just too big a project to go in this beautiful green space."

The developer's plans include 311 parking spaces behind the buildings, making the parking area less visible from Colvin Street. The plan also includes rerouting water runoff into a basin to prevent it from flooding the Meadowbrook Drive area.

The area's Sherman Park Neighborhood Association, which represents the area closest to the planned complex, opposed the project. The associations closer to main campus and Westcott approved of the plan because they figured it would shift some students away from their neighborhoods.

Mike Stanton, president of the South East University Neighborhood Association, was one of six University Hill residents to speak in favor of the project. He said the new complex will help convert as many as 100 houses from student housing to family ownership.

"That's a big plus to us," Stanton said.

The developer plans to begin construction by the end of summer and have the complex ready for students by fall semester 2009.